"The phone rings, in the middle of the night, my father yells 'what you gonna do with your life?'. Oh, daddy dear, you know you're still number one, but girls, they wanna have fun!"

Willow is in the shower, singing along loudly and off-key to her portable radio Robin had gotten for her last Christmas, using her shampoo bottle as a makeshift microphone, when the banging on her front door started.

She almost thought it was part of the song at first, until the doorbell started ringing right along with the pounding.

Willow's hand immediately shot out and turned the water off, holding her breath as she listened.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Whoever was at her door was still knocking furiously.

Maybe it's Robin, she thinks, considering that her friends had just dropped her off ten minutes before. Maybe I just left something in Steve's car.

With this in mind, Willow makes the catastrophic decision to only wear her towels out to answer the door, a smaller one wrapped around her hair while the larger one is wrapped around her body.

"This better be important," she mutters to herself as she takes care to not slip on her way down the hall.

The banging is only intensifying with each passing second as Willow approaches the door.

"Robin, I swear to God, nothing I left in Steve's car could be this import-" Willow swings open the door and cuts herself off immediately, " Eddie , what the fuck ?"

Eddie completely disregards her, shoving himself past her and into her living room.

"Hey, what the hell are you do-"

"I fucked up," Eddie interrupts, tugging his hands through his hair, "I fucked up royally."

"You fucked up?" Willow is immediately confused, worried as well, but mostly confused, "How did you fuck up?"

"I fucked up. Christ, I was an idiot," Eddie finally pauses his pacing, eyes trailing over Willow before realizing she was only in her towel. His hand immediately reaches up and slaps across his eyes, "Are you naked?"

"Well, I... yeah. I-I was in the shower to get ready for your stupid meeting. I thought you were R-Robin," Willow explains herself through her nervous stuttering as she grips onto her towel even tighter, turning and closing her front door. Her knuckles have gone white from the grip she has on the fluffy cotton – on the one thing between her boobs and Eddie Munson's peeping eyes.

"Shucks," Eddie starts to grin behind his hand, "Going through all that just for a bunch of freaks?"

"I-" Willow can't even begin to defend herself, or entertain him with banter, "Eddie, what do you mean when you say you fucked up? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" her worry starts to gnaw at her stomach as she looks over him for any sign of injury: no bruised knuckles, no black eyes (from what she can see), no busted lips. There's not a physical clue on Eddie Munson that would explain why he just stormed into her house.

"Don't worry, Red. I'm fine, I swear," he mockingly holds up the hand that isn't covering his eyes, "At least, for now, I am."

"For now? Jesus Christ, did someone follow you here? Should I expect Jason Carver to come banging on my door next?" Willow turns and locks her front door for emphasis, only half joking. The reminder that she's currently in just a towel hits her once more, "Hold on. Just... just wait here, please? Let me go get dressed."

Even though Eddie has respected her modesty by keeping his eyes covered, Willow is burning with embarrassment as she tightens the towel even more, cutting off circulation around her ribs.

"Wait!" Eddie stops her, letting his hand drop but immediately looking upwards, "It's important, you need to know something before we go to Hellfire."

It's not the best moment to notice, but Willow's eyes catch that Eddie still has her scrunchie on his wrist. "Wait, is Jason actually about to break down my door?"

"What? No," Eddie shakes his head, eyes still memorizing her home's popcorn ceiling.

"But it's so important you can't wait to tell me until I'm dressed?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then what is it?"

"I told my friends about us."

Willow is ready to start seething, standing there practically naked as Eddie refuses to look at her. "Jesus Christ, I'm getting dressed," she finally says with certainty, turning her back on Eddie.

"Listen, no, hold on," she can hear Eddie start to trail behind her. She picks up her pace and once she gets to her room, she slams the door in his face. She can barely hear his muffled voice as he says, "Rude."

"Just tell me through the door, idiot!" she calls out as she starts to open her drawers, pulling out underwear and a bra.

"Okay, so, at lunch, my friends noticed your scrunchie-"

"Wasn't that the point of you taking it?"

"Well, yes, but listen-"

"I'm still not understanding where you 'fucked up'!" Willow grabs a dark red shirt from her closet with a faux knitted pattern, struggling to pull it on over her hair that was still tangled up into a towel.

"I'm getting there. Jesus Christ, patience is virtue, Red," Eddie yells back, and she decides to stay quiet, giving him the chance to explain, "They started grilling me on us. Freaking out over me having a girlfriend and shit. So I panicked. I lied and told them we'd been dating since this summer."

Willow has barely buttoned up her jeans when he says this, and she realizes now what he had meant – he had fucked up.

"We didn't even know each other this summer," she says slowly for emphasis as she pulls the towel on her head off and tosses it onto her bed, wet hair dripping onto her shoulders as she starts to make her way to the door.

"Yeah, I'm aware. But I just - Fuck, I panicked, okay? And I made up this elaborate story about how we met at Scoops and may have said that we were dating as early as the day I actually came into Scoops and we actually met for the first time-"

Willow interrupts him by swinging open her door, staring him down with bridled anger. "Wasn't your friend Garth there that day?"

"Garth? Who th- Do you mean Gareth ?" Eddie is smiling despite the entire situation being the exact opposite of amusing to Willow.

"Garth, I heard you call him Garth," Willow insists.

Eddie shakes his head, his stupid grin only growing. "Red, I think you need to get your hearing checked. My friend's name is Gareth ."

"Okay, whatever . Your friend Gareth was there. He would have known that we did not act like a boyfriend and girlfriend. We didn't even act like we knew each other, in a friendly way or an intimate way or in any way," Willow can feel her panic bubble up. This was it - they had just barely started their entire fake-dating scheme and now, they would be taken down and exposed by Eddie's troupe of nerds of all people.

"That's the thing, Red. He did. He said you were staring me down, pulled a whole ' I-fucking-knew-it!' moment and everything," Eddie smiles sheepishly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, "So I sort of made a mess claiming we were just keeping the relationship secret for a while."

"Okay," Willow nods slowly, trying to bring her panic down, ignoring the comment on how she had been staring at Eddie that day; Robin had said the same thing. "Okay, we can deal with this. We're already liars, what's a few more little white ones?"

"So... you're not pissed?" Eddie asks, seeming nervous.

"What? No, I'm not pissed."

"Really? You're not ready to put me in my early grave? I kind of deserve it," Eddie presses even further, and Willow continues to stare at him in confusion.

Willow squints, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning into the frame of her doorway as Eddie continues to cower in front of her, "Why would I be pissed, Eddie? Is there something more you're not telling me?"

"I dunno," Eddie shrugs, "I just assumed considering it sort of feels like you're driving this whole fake-relationship bus – which is fine! I mean, I'm fully okay with you calling the shots I just-"

"Relationships, fake or not, go both ways," Willow reminds him.

"I'm aware of that!"

"Okay, you just sounded like you weren't," Willow is still unconvinced as she stands up from leaning against her door frame, moving to walk past Eddie and back towards her bathroom.

Her stereo is still playing.

"Obviously I knew that relationships go two-ways, I'm not a clueless idio- Oh my God, were you listening to Cyndi Lauper?" Eddie is following behind her as she makes her way into the bathroom, stopping at the threshold as he recognizes the music that's playing before she jams her finger onto the power button.

"No."

"Yes, you were. What, you sing in the shower?"

"How do you know Cyndi Lauper? I thought you strictly listened to Metallica," Willow desperately tries to change the subject by being snappy as she digs out a comb for her hair.

Eddie throws his head back in laughter, "I listen to more than just Metallica, Red. I mean," he pauses, and she glances over to see him motioning over his outfit currently. More specifically, his fingers are grazing some of the buttons and patches on his levi vest. She doesn't recognize a single band, "I just prefer metal. Who wouldn't?"

"I don't," she reminds him, setting her comb down before walking over to get a closer look at the vest. She also finally notices the shirt he wears beneath the vest: a white baseball tee with black sleeves, a small graphic of a devil face and the words Hellfire Club printed around it.

She doesn't realize she's reaching up to trace her finger gently over one of his pins until he speaks up, "That one's for the band Wasp. You a secret fan or something?"

She knows he's trying to joke around, but she shakes her head in complete seriousness. "No, are they like Metallica? Or heavier?"

For a second, everything freezes. Willow's finger lingers as she not only watches Eddie's chest rise and fall, but feels it beneath the pad of her finger as well. They're both completely silent as Willow keeps her touch especially delicate, giving this moment the space to find its place between them. She hadn't realized just how close she had not only gotten to him, but how close he had allowed her to get. There were no protests on his lips as she took up his personal space without permission. She's close enough she can smell his breath with each exhale, particularly minty as if he'd recently brushed his teeth, and she notices he doesn't reek of cigarettes as per usual. The random yet curious thought of when he'd last smoked crosses her mind, but she pushes it off as she finally looks up to him, catching him already staring down at her through heavy lashes.

"Heavier. Pretty kick ass, honestly," Eddie has clearly caught onto Willow's sincerity, his joking tone completely vanishes as they maintain eye contact, "I think they might be a bit vulgar for your taste, though."

"Not that again," Willow rolls her eyes as the moment breaks, hand falling back to her side and no longer invading Eddie's personal space, "My taste isn't that bad."

"You listen to Cyndi Lauper in the shower, Red!"

"What's wrong with Cyndi?"

"Nothing!" Eddie's voice cracks with laughter before he adds, "At least, not for nice girls like you."

Willow fakes extreme offense, picking up her comb and pointing it as threateningly as possible at Eddie, "I am not a nice girl."

Eddie can only cackle as Willow tries to produce a menacing look, knowing she probably looks more constipated than scary. "Yes, you are. Very nice. It's the whole reason why you need to hurry up and get ready - all my friends are actually convinced you're too nice for me."

"Funny," Willow turns towards the mirror, taking his subtle push to hurry up her process with a grain of salt as she slowly combs her hair, "My friends say the same thing."

"That I'm too nice for you ? What the hell are Buckley and Harrington on ?"

It's Willow's turn to cackle, "No, you idiot. That I'm too nice for you."

"Oh. Oh, yeah. That makes more sense," Eddie finally leaves the entrance of the bathroom and steps forward, closer to Willow. He leans against the sink counter with his back to the mirror so he can continue to face her as he crosses his arms. Now he's the one invading her personal space. But Willow decidingly mimics his earlier reaction; she stays quiet as she grabs her mascara off the counter.

Willow pumps her mascara a few times, noting that it's almost empty, before looking at an oddly silent Eddie. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason," Eddie shrugs, looking down briefly before looking back up at her with a playful look in his eyes, corners of his mouth twitching, "Just wondering what your favorite Cyndi Lauper song is."

"Oh, fuck off, " Willow curses, leaning forward and angrily swiping on her mascara.

"It's ' Good Girls Just Want to Have Fun', isn't it?"

Eddie doesn't seem phased by the streak of black left across his cheek when Willow immediately angrily flicks her mascara wand at him out of annoyance, his hands thrown up weakly in self-defense as he laughs so hard he begins to double over.

Any onlooker would only be able to hear his laughter, melodic as Willow shouts more curses at him, somewhere along calling him annoying with no conviction before throwing a hand out to smack his shoulder for good measure when he won't stop laughing at her. They'd see her failing at suppressing her own smile and giggles as her hand initially misses before she finally catches sight of the mascara wand now caught in Eddie's messy hair, her laughter finally overflowing out of her.

Finally, Eddie begins to gasp out apologies, still laughing even when Willow's palm makes contact, more-so trying to keep him still as her other hand grabs for the wand, dangling comically. It's no use, Eddie still bent at his waist from the force of his laughter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry !"

The hallway continues to echo with their happiness the rest of the time Willow spends getting ready.

---

"Slow down ," Willow whines, trying to keep up with Eddie's quick pace. It didn't help that his legs were definitely longer than hers.

"We're gonna be late," is all he huffs as he turns another corner.

He has his backpack slung over his left shoulder, the side opposite of where Willow had been walking beside him. But the moment they entered the school, the boy had taken off.

"Eddie, didn't you say you're the president of the club? They can't start without you," she's starting to lose her breath, legs aching from the fast pace. Realistically, she understood his rush and knew it would probably look bad on his part if he was late to the first meeting of the school year. That didn't deter her from complaining. It was his fault to begin with; he had endlessly distracted her while she tried getting ready.

"Here," he says suddenly, throwing out his right hand in her direction. She stares at it for a moment as if it's a foreign object, something she's never seen before. He throws it around in the air as he slows down a bit and she nearly collides with it. " Here ," he stresses again, finally grabbing her hand when she continues to stare at him.

It takes her by surprise; she wasn't expecting to hold hands with him, especially not when they're still alone in the hallway for now.

"What-" she quickly realizes why he's done it – he's practically dragging her up to his pace now that their fingers are interlocked.

She decides to just go with it, noting that his warm palm against hers did feel pretty nice.

"Okay, so, when we walk in, I'll make sure to introduce you to everyone. But obviously, you're not playing – unless you want to play? Do you want to play?" Eddie starts to ramble, not even sounding the slightest bit out of breath, the opposite way Willow felt.

"Not really," she gasps, tripping over herself slightly. Eddie's hand in hers grips tighter and steadies her. He offers a glance to his side at her, as if checking that she's fine – all she can do is nod in embarrassment.

"Okay, cool. So the original plan is still good: I'll have you sit off to the side but next to me still, and if you need anything, you just let me know, okay?"

"What if you guys are in the middle of the game?"

"Don't care. If it's important, interrupt. But if it isn't important, I'd obviously appreciate you waiting," Eddie finally slows down as they round a final corner, and Willow can see the door to one of the drama rooms propped open. She hears a couple of voices laughing as well.

"Got it. Only interrupt if I need something important," Willow smiles at Eddie, nodding hard, "I think I can manage that."

"Also, I told them our first date was at the Hideout, you came to watch my show after I invited you when we ran into each other at Scoops. Spent the night drinking, getting to know each other, blah, blah, blah," Eddie fills in all the gaps of knowledge that Willow needs to know. At this sentence, she glances down at his wrist, the one connected to the hand holding hers; he's still wearing her scrunchie. And his jacket still hangs heavy on her shoulders, although his scent was slowly wearing off.

She might insist he take it back for a few days before she borrows it again. She sort of misses the smell.

"Got it, captain," she teases, using her free hand to mockingly salute him. He rolls his eyes at her as they stop just outside of the door, "Now, we ready to do this, Munson?"

Eddie doesn't respond immediately, instead sighing as he looks into her eyes. It makes her knees feel weak, the way he's staring right into her eyes as if he's seeking out comfort from her - as if he's as nervous as she is.

This was it. They hadn't particularly put on a show for anyone so far. As a matter of fact, in the week they'd been 'fake-dating', it hadn't felt as though anything had changed - they didn't go on any public dates, they weren't walking each other to class, they still sat separate at lunch, they hadn't been holding hands (until tonight ), and they hadn't even entertained the idea of kissing. As far as the school knew, the most grandiose show of their connection had been Willow wearing Eddie's jacket. And even that wasn't very damning; Willow never confirmed it was Eddie's.

Hawkins High had spent the week simply thinking that Eddie Munson had somehow convinced Willow Jenkins to be his friend. Or maybe they thought he had blackmailed her into it. Willow wasn't sure, she hadn't paid any mind to the rumors swirling about them.

Tonight is the first night they're entering a room full of people who believe that they are boyfriend and girlfriend - and that they have been for at least a month.

Willow finally squeezes Eddie's hand twice in attempted consolation, putting on her nicest smile, just for him. They still had a few moments before this was real, before their plan was official. If they wanted, they could turn and run. Willow could leave and Eddie could tell his friends he had just been joking.

The squeezing of Willow's hand in Eddie's brings him back down to earth, finally replying, "As I'll ever be. Let's do this, Red."